1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relates to a wireless communication system; and, more particularly, to a frame format discrimination apparatus and method in a wireless communication system.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a wireless communication system uses a standardized frame format. When various frame formats are used together in a wireless communication system, it is necessary to discriminate the frame formats. However, standards or methods for discriminating frame formats are not much known. Furthermore, although a standard or method is known, the discrimination precision thereof is low.
For example, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11n standard which has been recently defined may be used together with the existing IEEE 802.11a or 802.11g standard. The frame format of the IEEE 802.11n standard includes a similar section to the frame format of the existing standard and a new section, in order to maintain the compatibility with the existing standard. In the frame format of the IEEE 802.11n standard, the new section includes a High Throughput (HT) field. Therefore, discriminating a HT field in a frame makes it possible to determine whether or not the frame format corresponds to the IEEE 802.11n standard. However, a conventional HT-field discrimination method has a disadvantage in that its reliability decreases in a state where a signal to noise ratio (SNR) is high.